Tips & Strategies (13)

When playing as one of the bad guys, remember that the best way to win the game is making the good guys as much confused as you can.
When the first two missions get accomplished, it may seem that the game is pretty much over. But it actually means that the good guys have absolutely no idea of who is who. So take advantage of that, don’t rush the sabotages if you are assigned to the first missions. This way, when they repeat a previous successful formation and watch the third mission fail, they will be completely lost and will probably lose the game.

When doing the whole eyes-shut-thumbs-up routine at the start of the game to establish all the starting information, it is possible for something to go wrong. For instance, Merlin might not see as many bad guys as he should have. It doesn’t happen often but this can be catastrophic for the game.

We have a house rule that anyone can call “foul” at that point if something went wrong during the reveals. The characters can get redealt and we can start again. It will only have cost us a couple of minutes, but will have saved the game.

I was discovered as a minion in a recent game because I, without knowing, changed my speech pattern. We were in game 3 of 3 of a single sitting and in the previous two games I was on the blue team. In the final game my buddy called me out for not talking as much and I wasn’t trusted for the rest of the game. I didn’t notice the change myself – so either I was speaking too much while on the blue team, or too little while on the red team.

Key Point – regardless of which team you’re on, keep your speech patterns consistent… especially if playing multiple games in a sitting.

Just played a game where I was the assassin and managed to zero in on Merlin, because, as the leader – he went and picked a “seemingly” random group of 5 people, ignoring all previous data – that were all good guys. Careful that when you’re trying to hide your id as “The Wiz” – the baddies know who the good guys are – so if you show some sign that you know who’s who, when you shouldn’t, you’re painting a target on your back.

After the Quest team submits their sword cards, have two separate people shuffle the pile under the table. This will completely eliminate any possible card counting. It will also prevent the issue of someone being accused of counting. It is a game that breeds suspicion and accusations, but we need contain it to what the designers had in mind and remove this possible source of cheating.

Crafty cheaters may track the discarded sword cards instead, so make sure that two people also shuffle that pile as well.

If you want to play regular resistance just play Avalon without the Merlin role (or any of the Avalon roles) and drop the assasination of Merlin bit. This makes the game just like Resistance (without any plot cards)

If you are using the Percival character, then he knows who Merlin is. A huge benefit of this — assuming the Percival player stays sharp — is that Percival is in a good position to pretend to be Merlin, drawing the attention of the assassin away from the real target.

Of course, if Morgana is in play, that makes Percival’s job a whole lot harder. But that’s the point.

The Resistance : Avalon is a very bare bones game with people sitting around talking being the real game. I like to add some extra atmosphere by playing a soundtrack in the background instead of music. Some of my favorite soundtracks for this game are The Game of Thrones Soundtrack, The Dark Knight and Inception. The movie/tv doesn’t have to match the setting of the game, it just needs to have some omnius and dramatic cues that will add to the tension of the game.

I just love it when we are going to vote for the next mission and in the background the music is sounding incredibly dramatic and critical.

When playing this game, make sure there is one person who can give out directions for the reveal phase in the same manor time after time.

Why?

Some folks have a habit of giving away if they are spies or not (ex. “Ok, so us spies will now open our eyes.”) at the start of the game. This makes is really easy for the other side, and eliminates the fun.

If possible, find a humours way to go through the different reveals, and stick with it. This is an added way to add fun without ruining the game mechanics.

Not sure if this is a house rule or not as I have seen games with and without secret voting. The point is that secret voting (voting on the quest team that is) is not a good idea as you need to see at least some actions taken by other players. The game is secretive enough as it is.

Technically, there is a rule where you are not allowed to discuss the cards that tell you your role. This House Rule is really just a reinforcement of that rule, and may not be necessary for your group.

Our group has two guys that continue using jokes as a way to give hints about their allegience. To most people, that kinda ruins the point of the game, but they just don’t see it that way.

If you have someone that “accidently” reveals himself quite often, you might consider some House Rule like this.